Thursday, December 03, 2015

Snowbabies figurines originated in the 1890s influenced by the birth of Marie Peary. Her father was Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary who would later be credited with the discovery of the North Pole. At the time of her birth her father was exploring northwest Greenland. Greenland natives had never laid eyes on a Caucasian child and they affectionately dubbed her "snow baby".

In turn, Kristi Jensen Pierro drew inspiration from these historical events, childhood memories, and the antics of her own children reveling in wonderment of winter. Department 56 enraptured by Kristi Jensen Pierro's charming illustrations of cherubic imps romping through Frost Frolic Land, chose to render them in three dimensional form. Five bisque figurines were introduced in 1987. Snowbabies became Department 56's most endearing line and was expanded to included waterglobes, ornaments, accessories, and animals.

In 1998, Snowbabies began entertaining visitors from other lands with the introduction of the immensely popular Guest Collection. Their first dignitary dropped in on her way home from Oz.

Since Dorothy and Toto's first visit, The Wizard of Oz has been introduced regularly into the Snowbabies line. Let's hope the tradition continues for 2016.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Krone just introduced it's five piece rollerball Wizard of Oz boxed set. Each pen is crafted from Italian resin and modeled after Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and the Wicked Witch of the West. The clip resembles the Emerald City and the band on the cap boasts The Wizard of Oz logo. There are only 88 sets issued worldwide.

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Two new scratch it lottery games have started during the past week. I'm not sure if it's state or federal law but lottery tickets can not be sold out of the issuing state. Time to get the Oz network rolling!!! Good luck to the residents of these two states. Click on the names to visit the official lottery websites to learn more.

Friday, September 11, 2015

For the past 3 or 4 years Walgreens has carried an exclusive, very successful Nightmare Before Christmas gift line for Halloween. This year, they've followed it up with the Wizard of Oz. Right now there are 6 items, but hopefully the line will grow.

Wicked Witch Travel Cup - $7.99

Flying Monkey Travel Cup - $7.99

Wicked Witch, Dorothy, Flying Monkey ceramic latte cup - $9.99

Dorothy Wicked Witch ceramic latte cup - $9.99

Dorothy Wicked Witch Musical Snowglobe - $14.99

Wicked Witch Trick or Treat Bucket - $2.99

The ceramic latte cups are really nice!! One has a handle of the legs of the WWE and the other has a handle of a Flying Monkey tail. Cute!!!!!! And clever.

The snowglobe is cute for the price. It's a good size at about 6 inches tall and 4 inches wide. It plays 'Funeral March of a Marionette' aka The Alfred Hitchcock theme. Appropriate for Halloween! The music box might stick and appear to get stuck, but if you wind it up and then work it gently with your fingers it'll play just fine. The Trick or Treat bucket is a cardboard box type thing. Best used as decor as it doesn't seem sturdy enough for serious trick or treaters. If you want to use it for it's intended purpose you might want to reinforce it a bit. For some reason, this is the rarest item of all. Stores seem to be getting only 1 or 2 and they are mixed in with other character buckets so they don't immediately stick out. There is 1 four sided bucket with a different photo on each side.

It looks like most Walgreens are getting these items in. Oz should be coming with the general Halloween items. I was horrified to learn however that a store that had taken my number to notify me upon arrival of the new items said yesterday that all stores may not be getting Oz. Some Walgreens are smaller than others and get very minimal stock. I'm glad I called to check up! I'd been waiting a week to hear something. So go to walgreens.com and use the store locator to call around.

Also, and I'm treating this as a rumor until I hear otherwise, the store clerk was under the impression that this is only the beginning for Oz at Walgreens. She seemed to think they'd get 3 or 4 shelves of items. So if it's convenient, keep a sharp eye on your local Walgreens.

About Me

I've been an Oz collector for 20 years now. I love collecting and I love talking with other collectors. I mostly collect Dorothy and Toto, sometimes ruby slippers, but I do buy sets on occasion. My very favorite things to collect are Dorothy dolls. I have over 100 in my collection right now. :) I also love figurines, teddy bears and ornaments. Just about anything Dorothy and Toto.